Hero rescues mom and daughter trapped in flash flood

Hero rescues mom and daughter trapped in flash flood

DENVER — The intensity of a huge hail and rain storm Monday raises the intensity of fear for one Lakewood family.

About 3:00 p.m., their car got swept away in a wave of flood water at 21st Avenue and Urban Street—with them inside it.

Stephanie Liddick, 25, and her daughter, McKenna, 6, had pulled their car over because of the intense hail. That hail and debris clogged a drainage gate, resulting in a flash flood that trapped the two.

But a Good Samaritan literally stepped in to the turbulent cold to save them.

“I do home remodeling and repairs,” says Merle Cordova of Mayberry Builders in Westminster.

Cordova fixes up houses.

But Tuesday, he fixed a terrifying situation for a mom and her child—his cell phone captured the tense moments, which you can see in the video clip.

“She was waving at me and then I realized all that water flows down to a lake,” says Cordova, on the urgency he felt to help the two.

Liddick’s 2012 Nissan Versa got caught in a violent flash flood, water and hail tear through the street about four feet high.

“Then, the car started taking on water. I was okay for a minute. Then, it rose seat high and started filling the cup holders,” says Liddick.

With her six-year-old in the backseat, she knew she had to act.

“We didn’t have a choice. We had to get out of the car,” says Liddick.

So McKenna stands on the roof, mom stands in the window, holding her tight, as the car starts to float.